All who are thirsty...

Last week my brother and I drove to Colorado for the wedding of James and Kelsey. Driving my "trusty steed" (a Honda CR-V) named Claxton we set out confidently. It was a hundered-degree day, the sun was beating down and for some reason our A/C was not functioning properly (which is abnormal). Not gonna lie, it was highly uncomfortable! Lane and I drove 16hrs in the sweltering heat, sweating through our clothes over and over again and both getting dehydrated in spite of our frequent rest stops and consuming of various liquids (from warm water to lemonade). I'd like to take a moment and recognize one of the many ways that Lane served me on the trip and that was by driving the entire way. I was so dehydrated at points that I would suddenly fall asleep just from the exhaustion of the heat and then start awake when my body was to warm to sleep any longer. Because Lane never asked me to drive I was able to take advantage of those few times of rest.
In the midst of that great discomfort the Lord began to minister to my heart. At Ellerslie whenever something was less comfortable than what we were accustomed to we would choose to be thankful for the opportunity and would joyfully say to each other, "Missionary training!" As I pondered how most Americans would react to the discomfort of sweating for 16hrs straight but how few people have probably had to experience that very much (if at all) in their life my mind went to all the brothers and sisters we have overseas that deal with excessive heat and lack the luxuries we take for granted. The Lord helped me to see all the things that I had to be thankful for in the midst of our unbearably-warm drive.

Thankful for His provision of finances that enabled us to purchase COLD refreshments!

Thankful that there was a way to create shade!

Thankful for restaurants and gas stations that provide air-conditioned relief, running-water rest rooms, and beverages! 

Thankful that we didn't have to WALK miles and miles in the heat carrying heavy loads of sticks or jugs of water, we got to SIT and read or rest!

Thankful that we were never in such desperate need or so lacking any other option for hydration that we had to stop and collect water for drinking from rivers, streams or ponds that we passed!

Thankful that we were able to listen to music praising our good God and communicate with dear ones that were praying for strength and relief for us. The radio, iPod and cell phones we had never ceased to work!

Thankful for the setting of the sun and the finish of a very trying and testing day... Thankful that we don't have to endure that discomfort daily!

My heart and mind was on those less fortunate than myself but even more than being able to empathize (to some small degree) with those enduring dehydration, exhausting heat and long days and wanting to bring all of them the relief of clean, convenient water and rest and shade I wanted them to know the One who was sustaining me. Jesus. The One who quenches thirsty souls -- not just thirsty bodies. The One who provides supernatural rest even in the midst of strenuous toil. The One who refreshes and restores our lives for eternity not just a day. I heard the cries of those without water and those without hope, those who simply survive one day at a time and labor each day simply to live one more day. I saw the practical need, desperate need, urgent need of providing water for these people, it finally hit home with me. At the same time though, I saw their need for the knowledge that I have of a God who supplies all needs, satisfies at the deepest level and who not only provides rest and abundant life here on earth but who promises eternal rest in His presence at the end of that Day when He brings us Home to Heaven.
Christian, allow Him to move you to action. Allow Him to reach your heart and open it to what He opened mine to on that hot drive to Colorado last Monday. Pray for the thirsty souls in your sphere of influence and allow the Lord to lead you in how to bring them to the Well that will satisfy their longing souls. Pray for those dying around the world for lack of clean or convenient water and allow the Lord to lead you in the way He desires to use you to bring physical relief as well as spiritual relief to them.
Note: I'd also like to thank our brother-in-the-Lord who blessed us greatly by fixing our air conditioning and teaching Lane how to care for my "trusty steed", Claxton. Our drive home was much more comfortable! We're thankful for your services and your joyful, always-ready-to-help attitude, Aaron!

- Resources -

bloodwatermission.com

charitywater.org

Gospel for Asia's Jesus Wells

Where I am right now...

Christian, there are hundreds of millions of children being harassed by the Enemy, left vulnerable to his destruction. This is our watch. If we truly believe this atrocity, if we truly believe our God wants to use us to intervene on their behalf, if we believe He is mighty to save... we will pray without ceasing. Do you believe?

---

If missions languish, it is because the whole life of godliness is feeble. The command to go everywhere and preach to everybody is un-obeyed, until the will is lost by self-surrender in the will of God. There is little right giving because there is little right living, and because of the lack of sympathetic contact with God in holiness of heart, there is a lack of effectual contact with him at the Throne of Grace. Living, praying, giving and going will always be found together, and a low standard in one means a general debility in the whole spiritual being.

– Arthur T. Pierson –

Where I am right now...

My arms are aching to hold kiddos who are aching to be held.
My mind is filled with images of children's faces -- all those little eyes brimming with curiosity, caution and a maybe the slightest glimmer of hope.
My heart is broken for them. I ache because I possess the Hope and the Love they don't even know exists. How I long to bring Him to them.
Lord, here am I. Send me. Please, open Your arms wide to them by opening my arms wide to them.
Given to You. Given for the kingdom.

My only need is my only Want

He did it. Praise the Lord! 

And He will continue to do it 

until the day I see His face. 

Living for that day... 

Desiderio Domini.

Where I am right now...

"You do love Me. I know you love Me, even more than you know you love Me."

"I am lovesick for my Beloved."

"You and me alone, God, You and me alone."

Where I am right now...

‎"But how little I know of the love and power of our Saviour... how my poor little weak faith struggles and strains to lay hold of what Christ is so ready and able to grant... there is mighty power in prayer but how little I know about it and how feeble is my boldness in approaching Him who uses every means to induce us to come boldly and prevail." 

- John "Praying" Hyde -

‎"While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while little children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight–I’ll fight to the very end!"

- William Booth -

"...Like a little candle burning in the night..."

"...In this world of darkness so we must shine: 

you in your small corner, and I in mine."

Rejoice!

I have too much to say about this so instead I am going to just smile. :)

My Only Need becoming my Only Want

"I want You more than I wanna live another day."

"Give me one pure and holy passion, give me one magnificent obsession, give me one glorious ambition for my life: to know and follow hard after You."

"I have counted all things lost for the sake of knowing Christ."

"You are my only need."

"None among the sons of man, none among the heavenly train, can with Jesus then compare, none so sweet, none so fair."

"Jesus, Jesus, at Your feet, oh, to dwell and never leave."

My Jesus has faithfully shown me over the past year that He is ALL I NEED. I trust He will continue to show me that through the rest of my days on the earth. Now He has drawn me into a new lesson. He has been bringing me to my knees over the weekend. He's stirring my heart. He is enough. But, is He ALL that I WANT? No. He isn't. When I truly face that fact it breaks me. He is a jealous Lover. He is all that I could ever want, why do I settle for less? Why do I seek out something else?

Isaiah 55:1-2

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

The Lord is good. So good. As He teaches me heart, refines my life, draws me closer... As I surrender, repent, draw near and open my mouth wide... He is proving to be nothing other than faithful, good, patient, ALL. I listened to Paris Reidhead's sermon "Except ye repent" yesterday as I drove home from northern Minnesota. It was another tool used skillfully in my life by the Hand of my Beloved. Its a lengthy listen but its worth it. May He use it to slay you at His feet today, right where you are. This blog post of NJThompson's served to spur me on even today, here at my desk, half way through another work day. May He use it to bring you gently to your knees today, right where you are. 

"I love You, Lord, Jesus, my King. I want to love You more, my Great Reward."

Dear James & Kelsey, 

I've jumped up and down, I've burst into giddy laughter, I've cried the most delighted tears. Words fail me. I am so happy for you! See, that doesn't come anywhere close to describing my joy.

James, Big Brother-- you've brought me such joy, encouraged me in the Lord, protected me by taking blows for me even when I didn't know, you've served me and taken thought for my needs-- you're such a servant! Your adoration of, hunger for, and submission to our Jesus has blessed me, inspired me, and humbled me. Your obedience to Christ, your heart for the least, your love for those around you (your ability to make a "best friend" anywhere you go), and -- of course -- the way you have guarded and treasured Kels has been an example to me of a real man. Your entire Mills family is so blessed by you (We miss you!). I look up to you, I respect you, I love you!

Kelsey Lynn, my dear kindred spirit-- you have spurred me on, lifted me up in prayer, fought beside me, basked in the warmth of the Lord's smile with me, laughed your guts out with me. We've cried in anguish for the lost, cleaned other peoples homes, taken long walks, gone on drives, sung loud, goofed off, prayed, dreamed about the future, shared excitement and troubles, read together on the grass in the sunshine, and so much more (and by the way, I miss "doing life together" on a regular basis -- those are some of the sweetest times I've ever had). Your passion, confidence, humility, joy, love for the Beloved and for the lost, steadfast faith, femininity, sweetness, and genuineness are just a few things that I treasure. My friend, my sister, my comrade in the way-- I am so thankful for you, I have such respect for you, I love you -- so dearly. (P.S. You're amazing for taking kindly to the brother-sister bond between your man and I!)

You two have walked through some trying and refining seasons and now the day has come: you're lives are merging together from here on out and the day of your marriage will be one of great rejoicing!! I cannot wait!!

It is my honor to know you and to have witnessed the development of your relationship. I am eager to see what the Lord has in store for you; expectant for how He intends to pour out your lives for His kingdom and glory. I hope I will get the pleasure of walking beside you both in days to come, but regardless of whether we ever get to "do life together" again or not I will be cheering you on in prayer and will love you so much -- no matter what distance is between us geographically. :) :)

Congratulations on your engagement!

Love,

Chelsea/Chelsea Anne/Chels/Sis/Little Sister

the Commission

"Go! And make disciples of all men. Go, and be unashamed of My Gospel and preach it! Go! Rescue the least in the power of My Name! For is not the Lamb that was slain worthy to receive the reward of His suffering?!"

Mothers with HIV/Aids having to give up their little babies because they are to poor and too sick to care for them, even though that is all they have left in this world.

HIV/Aids crisis in Southern Africa. 

Orphaned and vulnerable children in Russia who are prime targets for human trafficking.

Little girls in slavery, who are treated worse than animals in the Brothels in Thailand and Cambodia.

Orphans in our own “back yard”, those who have no advocate right here in America, those under the banner of foster care. Who have been taken from their homes and the familiar (even if what was familiar was destruction it was, in allot of cases, all they knew).

Kids who are “aging out” of the Foster Care system, with no family and no stability, suddenly loosing the only thread of stability.

Babies in orphanages all across the world who have no one to hold them. Who have lost almost all emotion from lack of love and connection.

Special needs babies in China who are scorned by society and abandoned by parents.

Boys and girls kidnapped and forced to fight in the LRA (“Lords Resistance Army”) in Liberia. 

[From Kourtney's blog]

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Romans 8:35-39 (KJV)

This is my story, my song, but what about those who have never heard of the Lord Jesus?

“How deaf must be the deafness of the ear which has never heard the story; how blind the eye that has not looked on Christ for light; how pressed the soul that has no hope of glory; how hideous the fate of man who knoweth only night! God arouse us to care, to feel as He Himself does for their welfare.” - Jim Elliot

There is an Enemy who wants to keep people damned.

“Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you DAMNED?” (Leonard Ravenhill) 

...

The great paradox today is that Christians could believe in hell and have not a tear in their eyes nor the slightest anguish in their hearts over the lost and perishing world around them. 

...

One cannot disregard the prophetic song written by brother Keith Green: “Do you see, do you see all the people sinking down? Don’t you care, don’t you care, are you gonna let them drown? How can you be so numb not to care if they come? You close your eyes and pretend the job’s done. ‘Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord,’ you know it’s all I ever hear. No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear.”

A story I read yesterday afternoon has haunted me ever since. Read and weep.

“Charlie Peace was a criminal. Laws of God or man curbed him not. Finally the law caught up with him, and he was condemned to death. On the fatal morning in Armley Jail, Leeds, England, he was taken on the death-walk. Before him went the prison chaplain, routinely and sleepily reading Bible verses. The criminal touched the preacher and asked what he was reading. ‘The Consolations of Religion,’ was the reply. Charlie Peace was shocked at the way he professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved under the very shadow of the scaffold as to lead a fellow-human there and yet, dry-eyed, read of a pit that has no bottom into which this fellow must fall? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire that never consumes its victims, and yet slide over the phrase without a tremor? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, ‘You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings’? All this was too much for Charlie Peace. So he preached. Listen to his on-the-eve-of-hell sermon.

‘Sir,’ addressing the preacher, ‘if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!’”

I weep as I write for I fear that I am no different than this chaplain. Oh, Jesus have mercy. How can I be so numb, so cold, so indifferent to those who I know are running to an everlasting sentence of unceasing burning in hell? How can a hardened, godless criminal have more love for a soul than a professing Christian?

We must awaken from our slumber of temporal, worldly thinking and begin to see things from an eternal perspective. We must pray along with Jonathan Edwards, “O God! Stamp eternity on my eyeballs!” For there are millions of souls perishing as we speak without hope and without Christ who will spend forever in the most horrible of torment.

[From Nick's blog]

Once freed from damnation and brought near by the blood of Christ we're made inseparable from the love of Christ. The bands of wickedness, heavy burdens and yokes that oppress that we are commissioned to loose from others are the ones found first and foremost on their souls. 

How can we free them from the Enemy's hold? We have been deceived in the church to think that the best we can hope to do for the Kingdom is good works, meeting the physical needs of those around us along with the humanitarians. The Enemy has blinded us to the truth of the Exchanged Life and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Devil has convinced us to be content in our shallow "faith" because as long as we remain deceived we take none of his territory and do not advance the kingdom here on earth. Before we can hope to do anything for the King and His Kingdom we need to be freed, redeemed and made new.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. How often have we read, sung, prayed, and proclaimed these words? But more than fodder for lyrical fanciness or a great statement of supplication, has these words become the reality of your life? 

...

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. (Psalm 51.10-13) 

...

It is not that we need a new blood-pumping organ; but we do need a new “heart” (our seat of emotions – our mind, will, understanding, inner man). David has gone overboard in verses 1-9 talking about how corrupt he is (we are too), but he realizes that God desires to cleanse his heart. The word “clean” is the same word in verse two denoting a ceremonial cleansing to make pure and righteous. Amy Carmichael said it well when she wrote: “A pure heart is one in which all that is not of God is strange and jarring.”

Is that the case in your life? Has the things NOT of God become repulsive and shocking? Have you become so in tune with Jesus that anything that is not of His character and nature seems odd and foreign and grotesque? I would go so far as to say that if the world seems attractive and its vices appealing (all of which are not of God), then you do not have a pure heart and a right spirit. Will you allow Jesus to have full access in your life to CREATE and correct so that your crooked spirit is righted and your wicked-cold heart becomes pure? 

...

Have you become so accustomed with sin in your life that you haven’t noticed a lack of intimacy with Jesus? Not that you don’t think about Him, go to church and hear about Him, even read your Bible … but there is no passionate oneness, intimacy, and deep communion with Him on a daily basis. Sin blinds and separates you from having relationship with God. 

...

ure, I may have a lot of joy when I receive salvation but God’s joy makes mine look like a drop in the ocean. It is this immense joy that David wants deposited within his soul. Interestingly it is the very thing God wants to put there.

In Galatians, Paul says that the fruits of the spirit are: love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When you get into the passage, you find that each of these fruits are merely the outflow of Jesus being in your life. If you have Jesus, you can’t help but have all these fruits start to blossom forth. In other words, Jesus becomes each of these fruits in our life. He IS our love. He IS our joy. He IS our patience and peace and kindness and and and. He is EVERYTHING we need for life and Godliness (2 Peter 1.3).

[From Nathan's blog]

How is it that the world couldn’t get on with the holiest Man that every lived and can get on with you and me? Are we compromised? Have we no spiritual stature? Have we no righteousness that reflects their corruption? Is the world crucified to you…or does it fascinate you? -Leonard Ravenhill

"The Spirit indwelt life is not a special deluxe edition of Christianity to be enjoyed by a certain rare and privileged few who happen to be made of finer and more sensitive stuff than the rest. Rather, it is the normal state for every redeemed man and women the world over." - A.W. Tozer

With a clean heart and steadfast spirit, with the Indwelling Life of Christ, we have the power needed to intercede.

Intercessory prayer is the weapon of our spiritual battle and it is not a kids toy, it is MIGHTY to the pulling down of strong holds -- not small tents, huts or sheds, but fortresses and garrisons of the Enemy's forces. 

[From an older post]

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith. ~ Romans 1:16-17 (Amplified Version)

I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him. ~Romans 12:1-3 (Amplified version)


Faith. Its so much richer than modern "Christianity" makes it out to be. Once we are saved through it we are then able to live by it at which point the Lord works through us and through faith we are able to do greater things than even our Lord did while on the earth (remember that it is Him doing it through us).

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. ~Hebrews 11:32-34 (KJV) 

Living by faith, reckoning true the promise, of Romans 8 -- For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- leaves us free from the burdens and afflictions of this life that come as a result of loving and living for Christ. Ponder these truths...

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says - "I will be with him in trouble." It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are "more than conquerors in all these things." Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

"Shall tribulation . . . ?" Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may - exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

"Shall anguish . . . ?" - can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

"Shall famine . . . ?" - can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it - the love of God in Christ Jesus. "Out of the wreck I rise" every time. 

[From 'My Utmost for His Highest', May 19]

 “This momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).

What a statement! Paul looked at all the unbearable pain and suffering he endured for the Gospel and he called it “momentary, light affliction” as if it were no big deal at all. His eyes were not fixed upon his present situation, they were fixed upon eternity. This man was driven by eternity. He knew the earthy, visible things would soon pass away, but the eternal, unseen things would be from everlasting to everlasting.  He knew his present hardships would be swept away shortly and he would be caught up in the presence of his God forever in the heavenlies. He could sing for joy even in the darkest nights because his eyes were on something all together lovely and not on his present adversity. And therefore, he could gladly “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).

Can the same be said of you, Christian? Or are you so earthy minded that you wallow and mourn when hardships come your way? Are you driven by the things of eternity or by the passing things of this broken world?

Oh, if we could see the grand privilege it is to bleed, suffer, and die for the glory of our King; if we could see what an honor it is to bear the name of our mighty God and fight for Him and the expansion of His Kingdom; if we could catch even the slightest glimpse of His majesty and glory then we would find the greatest joy and delight in suffering for His name’s sake.

We must get our eyes off of ourselves and our present, soon-to-be-passing situation and plead with God to fix our eyes upon Himself and the things of eternity. For “what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little time and then VANISHES” (James 4:14).

You will soon be departing from this earth, friend. Your earthly life will evaporate swiftly. Does this not bring comfort to your soul? How glorious that day will be!

May we live with eternity in sight and in light of eternity call the distress of this passing hour easy and light. “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Therefore, do not lose heart. Give no place to discouragement and despair. Give yourself for the things of the Lord that are glorious and without end. Allow Him to spend you and waste you and pour you out for His glory and do it with joyous songs of adoration spilling forth from your heart as you fix your eyes on that which is everlasting! 

[From Nick's blog] 

And I will close this declaration (courtesy of the pithy words of one of my favorite hymns):

Jesus, I my cross have taken,

All to leave and follow Thee.

Destitute, despised, forsaken,

Thou from hence my all shall be.

Perish every fond ambition,

All I've sought or hoped or known.

Yet how rich is my condition!

God and heaven are still my own.

Let the world despise and leave me,

They have left my Savior, too.

Human hearts and looks deceive me;

Thou art not, like them, untrue.

O while Thou dost smile upon me,

God of wisdom, love, and might,

Foes may hate and friends disown me,

Show Thy face and all is bright.

Man may trouble and distress me,

Twill but drive me to Thy breast.

Life with trials hard may press me;

Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.

Oh, tis not in grief to harm me

While Thy love is left to me;

Oh, twere not in joy to charm me,

Were that joy unmixed with Thee.

Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,

Come disaster, scorn and pain

In Thy service, pain is pleasure,

With Thy favor, loss is gain

I have called Thee Abba Father,

I have stayed my heart on Thee

Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;

All must work for good to me.

Soul, then know thy full salvation

Rise oer sin and fear and care

Joy to find in every station,

Something still to do or bear.

Think what Spirit dwells within thee,

Think what Fathers smiles are thine,

Think that Jesus died to win thee,

Child of heaven, canst thou repine.

Haste thee on from grace to glory,

Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.

Heavens eternal days before thee,

Gods own hand shall guide us there.

Soon shall close thy earthly mission,

Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,

Hope shall change to glad fruition,

Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.

[Jesus, I my cross have taken]

This was long and it was probably rough, so thank you for sticking with me to the end. It is what the Lord has been working in my own heart the past few days: repentance, faith, obedience, prayer, joy... 
the commission.